OBS Chapter 377 They're all a bunch of idiots
Chapter 377 They're all a bunch of idiots
Liu Bowen agreed without hesitation.
Isn't it just me taking the lead?
It doesn't matter, I'd love to.
As long as I can send all those bastards down to sell salted duck eggs, I don't care if I lose my position!
Having made up his mind, Liu Bowen bowed directly to Emperor Zhu and said, "Your Majesty, I request that the Three Departments, the Grand General's Office, and the Inspectorate jointly interrogate the officials involved in the case."
The three departments alone are definitely not enough.
Because the officials involved in the case were mostly from Jiangnan, and the officials of the Three Departments were also mostly from Jiangnan.
What if some idiot comes up with some hometown sentiment and gives those bastards a lenient sentence? Wouldn't I be the one who suffers in the end?
Therefore, when interrogating the officials involved in the case, the inspectors and the Grand Commander's Office must be present, at the very least to eliminate any possibility of officials from the three departments showing favoritism.
Emperor Zhu hummed in agreement, but then suddenly remembered the letter his good son-in-law had written to him.
Then, Emperor Zhu first smiled and agreed to let the Inspectorate and the Grand General's Office send people to conduct a joint trial with the Three Departments. Then he smiled and said, "I just remembered something."
Emperor Zhu stood up and said while pacing back and forth, "After thinking about it, the reason why the local officials were so audacious and reckless in creating this unprecedentedly large-scale blank seal case is that the local officials have lost their control."
“If we don’t find a way to solve this problem, I’m afraid there will be one blank seal case after another in the future, or the local officials will become more careful and change all kinds of corrupt methods until they can deceive the Ministry of Revenue and the inspectors.”
"So, we're thinking of putting more constraints on the officials, at least to make them less likely to blatantly print blank money and grain registers?"
As Emperor Zhu finished speaking, Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen exchanged a glance and then fell silent.
To increase control over local officials?
That's not wrong.
The question is how to increase the number of tubes?
Should we expand the size of the Censorate?
Just as Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen were pondering this, Emperor Zhu continued, "We have two ideas. One is to divide power, dividing the power of a province into three parts: civil, legal, and military, each independent of the others."
"Local officials in charge of the people are naturally under the jurisdiction of the Secretariat, while those in charge of the law are under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Judicial Commissioner and the Censorate, and those in charge of the military are naturally under the jurisdiction of the Grand General's Office."
"In this way, those in charge of the law can keep an eye on those in charge of the people. Although they cannot directly interfere with how the officials in charge of the people govern them, it is equivalent to adding a censorate in the local area."
"The second idea is still the separation of powers. In addition to the division of civil, legal, and military powers, it should be further subdivided. Local officials will be in charge of governing the people, while the other six departments in the localities will be managed by the prefectures, the provinces, and the six ministries."
“On ordinary days, the officials can inquire about the affairs of the Six Offices, but the Six Offices are not only responsible to the local officials.”
"..."
Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen were somewhat bewildered.
Are these two methods of decentralization correct?
Quite right.
good or not?
That's good too.
However, if these two methods of decentralization are implemented, the local officials will go crazy.
Even the Sixth Chamberlain, whose power had greatly increased, or those assistant officials, would go crazy, because they were originally only subject to the wrath of local officials, but now they had to be subject to the control of the next higher level of government.
In addition, the imperial court also needs to undergo a major overhaul.
Putting everything else aside, the number of officials in the imperial court needs to be increased dramatically.
……
The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month in the third year of the Hongwu reign.
It was supposed to be the day before the Lunar New Year, but the officials in the Ming Dynasty court felt no joy whatsoever.
Minister of Revenue Yang Siyi was imprisoned, as were the Left and Right Vice Ministers of Revenue, the Office of Revenue Affairs, the Assistant Directors, the Directors and Principals of all the Offices of Revenue Affairs, and the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of the Ministry of Revenue's Transport Treasury.
To put it simply, apart from a few minor departments that had absolutely nothing to do with the blank seal case, the entire Ministry of Revenue, from the second-rank Minister to the ninth-rank Deputy Director of the Transport Warehouse, was imprisoned.
Judging from the charges brought against them by Liu Bowen, the Imperial Censor, most of these people are unlikely to be released.
"Corruption leads to tax evasion and aids the enemy."
The lightest of these charges is corruption, followed by tax evasion, while the most serious charge is aiding the enemy, which is enough to send the entire family of the officials involved in the blank seal case to their deaths.
What's even more critical is that the officials involved in this case were not simply interrogated by the three judicial departments.
The interrogation team, comprised of the Three Departments, the Inspectorate, the Grand General's Office, and a small eunuch specially dispatched by Emperor Zhu, also surged to six people. Even if the officials of the Three Departments wanted to show favoritism, they probably wouldn't have the slightest chance.
Compared to the officials in the imperial court, Yang Shaofeng, far away in Ningyang County, was in an extremely pleasant mood.
On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, which was the day after the Little New Year in the north, Yang Shaofeng left the county government office early and wandered around the county town cursing all the way.
"They're all a bunch of idiots."
"Your own family is as poor as hell, yet you dare to think of sending me salted fish, cured meat, and salted duck eggs?"
With a dark expression, Yang Shaofeng ordered the guards of the Prince Consort's mansion to move things like mackerel and shrimp to the people's homes, and then he started cursing angrily again.
"Damn it, I hold four official positions and receive four salaries. Even a tiny bit of money I manage to squeeze out from between my fingers is more than what you guys have."
"No more deliveries allowed next year."
"By the way, these mackerel and shrimp were transported from Dengzhou by my own people. Mackerel has few bones, making it suitable for the elderly and children, and the same goes for shrimp."
"You bastards, go eat shrimp shells."
"By the way, this afternoon I'll go to the livestock farm and have someone slaughter a few pigs and stew some cabbage."
"..."
Yang Shaofeng walked and cursed all the way back to the county government office as the sun began to set.
Seeing that Yang Shaofeng was still fuming, Jin'er couldn't help but laugh and said, "The people are rushing to give you salted fish and cured meat, and you're thinking of giving them mackerel and shrimp. Our Ningyang County is really quite interesting."
Yang Shaofeng picked up the tea that the maid had prepared, took a sip, and then snorted coldly, "They're all so poor they're practically bankrupt. Why would I care about their meager earnings?"
Jin'er smiled and shook her head, then said to Yu'er, "Now you know what it means to be stubborn on the outside but soft on the inside, right?"
Yu'er smiled and nodded, saying, "I didn't know before, but now I've truly seen it. My husband is as tough on the outside as he is on the inside."
Yang Shaofeng glared fiercely at Yu'er, then looked at Jin'er and said, "Wife, remember to have someone exchange some loose change for banknotes tomorrow."
After thinking for a moment, Yang Shaofeng said, "Hmm, let's exchange the ten-string coins for five-coin coins first."
Jin'er was slightly taken aback and said, "I have a lot of loose banknotes here. If you want to spend them, just take them. Why make someone make a special trip?"
Yang Shaofeng snorted and said, "Those bastards will definitely come to our house to wish us a Happy New Year again. We'll have to give those brats some lucky money then. Damn it, I only managed to save some last year because I was in Beijing. This year, I'm sure I'll lose a lot of money again."